832 
SWEET CLOVER, WHITE ANNUAL 
inches tall. They now grew rapidly; and, 
like the 22 plants in the greenhouse, the 
seedlings differed greatly in height and 
time of blooming, tho the plants from 
each parent were remarkably uniform. A 
part bloomed 2% months after seeding, 
while others required 3 ^2 months. At 3^ 
months the best strains had reached a 
height of 4^/2 feet. During the same time 
the biennial, or common sweet clover, had 
grown only 12 to 14 inches, and the yellow 
sweet clover only 8 to 10 inches. Medium 
red clover, planted at the same time as the 
Hubam clover, made a growth of only 3 to 
5 inches, while the Hubam clover grew 3 to 
414 feet. 
As soon as the plants had matured they 
were pulled and carefully examined. The 
root growth was found to be large and vig¬ 
orous, but entirely different from that of 
the biennial sweet clover. The bien¬ 
nial at the close of the first season 
has a strong, large, succulent tap¬ 
root, much like that of the parsnip. 
At the top of this root about an 
inch below the surface of the 
ground there is a crown with 5 to 
50 buds, which are ready to burst 
These Medina fields of biennial clover 
above, and of Hubam clover at the 
right, were both planted June 17, and 
photographed October 18. Note the dif¬ 
ference in growth. 
were 3 to 4^4 feet tall and most of 
of them were in full bloom; while 
the common biennial sweet clo¬ 
ver was less than one foot high. 
There were 22 plants in this original lot, 
and they yielded enough seed in the 
greenhouse to grow a short row from 
each plant. They were not exactly alike, 
but varied in height and time of maturity. 
This seed was planted in the fields, the 
same year (1916), about the middle of 
June; and a thin seeding of oats was made 
with it. Other clovers were also planted at 
the same time for comparison. The oats 
were cut when the “heads were in the milk” 
without injuring the clover. The annual 
sweet clover plants were then about six 
forth in early spring. But the root of the 
new clover was entirely different — there 
was no succulent taproot or crown of buds 
formed for the renewal of growth the sec¬ 
ond season. The plant had made its full 
growth, bloomed, ripened its seed, and died 
—both stems and roots—clearly establish¬ 
ing the fact that this clover is an annual. 
The new annual Hubam clover is believed 
to have originated on wild land in Ala¬ 
bama, and to be a sport or mutant of the 
biennial species. Hughes considered it 
quite certain that it did not first occur in 
Sweet Clover. Farmers’ Bulletin 485, 
U. S. Dept. Agric., March 12, 1912. 
SWEET CLOVER, WHITE ANNUAL 
(Melilotus alba, variety ).—Hubam clover. 
A few years ago the Iowa Agricultural Col¬ 
lege secured some 500 different lots of the 
seed of the common white sweet clover for 
trial, which were planted in greenhouses in 
January, 1916. All of the seed were sup¬ 
posed to belong to the common biennial or 
two-year white species. But about the first 
of March a number of very large plants 
were observed by Prof. H. D. Hughes, in 
charge of the Farms Crops Section, which 
came from one special lot of seed. They 
were far superior in appearance to the 
other plants, and were nearly ready to bloom 
in less than three months from the time of 
seeding. By the middle of April they 
